Kevin Nash
Nash debuted in WCW as the orange-mohawked "Steel", one half of the tag team known as the "Master Blasters". He was initially partnered with "Iron", who was later replaced by "Blade". The Master Blasters, however, disbanded within a year. In May 1991, Nash was repackaged as the silver-haired "Oz", a character based on the Wizard of Oz from the 1900 children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Oz, managed by Merlin the Wizard, was pushed strongly throughout early 1991; he squashed several wrestlers before losing to Ron Simmons at the Great American Bash on July 14. Nash wrestled as Oz throughout the remainder of 1991. In January 1992 he was repackaged as "Vinnie Vegas", a wisecracking pseudo-mobster based on Steve Martin's character in the 1990 film My Blue Heaven. Vegas was quickly recruited into "A Half-Ton of Holy Hell", a stable of large wrestlers created by Harley Race which included Big Van Vader and Mr. Hughes. The stable separated in February 1992, and Vegas joined The Diamond Mine, a stable led by Diamond Dallas Page that also included The Diamond Studd and Scotty Flamingo. After Studd and Flamingo left the stable, Page and Vegas began teaming together as The Vegas Connection. The tag team split in late 1992, and Nash left the promotion in early 1993 to work for the World Wrestling Federation. In 1993, Nash left WCW, signing a contract with the World Wrestling Federation at the request of Shawn Michaels. Nash made his WWF debut at a house show on June 6, 1993, assisting Michaels in defeating Marty Jannetty for the Intercontinental Championship. Nash was given the character of "Diesel", the heel bodyguard of Michaels, dyeing his hair and beard black in the process. In January 1994, Diesel appeared at the Royal Rumble, eliminating seven men in under 18 minutes of in-ring time. Diesel won the Intercontinental Championship from Razor Ramon, following interference from Michaels on the April 13, 1994 edition of Superstars. The duo of Diesel and Michaels defeated The Headshrinkers to win the WWF Tag Team Championship on August 28. The next night, Ramon defeated Diesel at SummerSlam to regain the Intercontinental Championship. The alliance between Diesel and Michaels dissolved after Survivor Series, and Diesel became a babyface. On November 26, Diesel defeated Bob Backlund for the WWF Championship at Madison Square Garden in an eight-second squash match. Michaels was irate about his former bodyguard having beaten him to the WWF Championship and was sufficiently motivated to win the 1995 Royal Rumble, earning himself a title shot at WrestleMania XI. At WrestleMania XI on April 2, Nash, accompanied to ringside by actress Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy, defeated Michaels to retain the title. The next night on Monday Night Raw, Michaels was betrayed by his new bodyguard, Sid, prompting Diesel to come to his rescue. This occurrence led to the tag team being reunited, now known as "Two Dudes with Attitude". On September 24 at In Your House 3: Triple Header in Saginaw, Michigan, Diesel and Michaels challenged Owen Hart and Yokozuna for the WWF World Tag Team Championship, in return placing Diesel's WWF Championship and Michael's WWF Intercontinental Championship on the line. When Hart did not show up at the event, he was replaced by Davey Boy Smith. In the course of the match, Hart arrived at ringside, entered the ring, and was pinned by Diesel for the win and the title. Because Hart was pinned despite being replaced, the victory was declared invalid the next day and the title was returned to Hart and Yokozuna. Diesel's WWF Championship reign continued until November 19, when he was defeated by Bret Hart at the Survivor Series. Following the loss, Diesel turned heel. Shortly before WrestleMania XII, both Diesel and Razor Ramon agreed to return to World Championship Wrestling as part of WCW President Eric Bischoff's drive to lure employees from the WWF to WCW with the offer of lucrative contracts. Diesel lost to The Undertaker at WrestleMania XII on March 31, then went on to feud with Shawn Michaels once again. In his last televised WWF appearance until 2002, Diesel challenged Michaels for the WWF Championship (which he had won from Hart at WrestleMania XII) at In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies on April 28. He wrestled Michaels for the title once again in a steel cage match at a house show on May 19, but was again defeated. After the match, Diesel, Michaels, Razor Ramon, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley—a group of off-screen friends known collectively as "The Kliq"—hugged one another in the ring and wished each other farewell. This incident, later referred to as the "Curtain Call" or "MSG Incident," was a serious breach of character, as it showed heels and babyfaces consorting with one another. Shortly thereafter, Diesel and Ramon left the WWF and joined WCW. After two weeks of Scott Hall appearing on WCW programming and taunting announcers, wrestlers, and the company, Nash finally debuted alongside his friend on June 10, 1996. The duo were known as The Outsiders, and the storyline pushed them as "invaders" from the WWF. At Bash at the Beach, Hall and Nash fought the team of Lex Luger, Sting, and Randy Savage and promised to add one more man to their entourage.4 With Hulk Hogan, they formed the New World Order (nWo).4Through late 1996, and into 1997, Nash normally teamed with Hall as the Outsiders, and they held the WCW Tag Team Championship.4 Nash also began to show his leadership qualities in the nWo, and became a sort of "second in command" alongside Hogan. Nash, Hall, and Sean Waltman distinguished themselves from the rest of the nWo, calling themselves the "Wolf Pac" in 1997.4 After a while, however, the nWo began to fight within its ranks, with Hogan and Nash battling for control. The situation came to a head on April 20, 1998, during a match between Hogan and recent nWo inductee (and rival) Randy Savage for Savage's recently won WCW World Heavyweight Championship. During the match, Nash interfered on Savage's behalf and jackknifed Hogan to the mat, signaling the breakup of the nWo into two separate factions (Nash's interference was not enough to prevent Hogan from regaining his championship, thanks to Bret Hart's interference shortly thereafter). Nash became the leader of nWo Wolfpac, alongside Savage, Curt Hennig, and Konnan. Hennig, however, shortly thereafter defected over to Hogan's nWo Hollywood faction. Then, during a match between Hall, Nash, Sting and The Giant (who had recently rejoined the nWo after being kicked out two years prior), Hall turned on Nash by hitting him with his tag team title belt and leaving the ring. The Wolfpac, however, was not down for long as Lex Luger joined with Nash's team. Sting would eventually become a member as well, after being recruited heavily by both sides towards the middle of 1998. After Sting won Giant's half of the tag team title at the Great American Bash that June, Nash became Sting's partner.4 They defended the championship until July 20, when they were defeated by Hall and The Giant. Nash then set his sights on his former partner, and the rivalry came to a head at Halloween Havoc on October 25. During the course of the match, Nash jackknifed Hall twice but, instead of pinning him, left the ring and lost via count-out. The following month at World War 3, Nash entered the 60-man, three ring battle royal that was a staple of the pay-per-view, with the winner getting a shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade the following month. Nash survived to the end after, literally, clearing his ring out and big booting Lex Luger, who had Scott Hall in the Torture Rack, over the top rope, and earned his shot at the title. At Starrcade, Nash capitalized on his opportunity and won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Goldberg. In doing so, Nash broke Goldberg's long running undefeated streak. On January 4, 1999, Nash and Goldberg were set to meet in a rematch, but the match did not happen because of Goldberg being arrested for (kayfabe) stalking Miss Elizabeth. That night also marked the return of Hulk Hogan after his "retirement" two months prior. With Goldberg unable to wrestle, Nash challenged Hogan instead. In "The Fingerpoke of Doom," Hogan simply poked Nash in the chest, who proceeded to fall down and willingly allow Hogan to pin him for the title. The gesture, in addition to turning Nash heel again, marked the reunion of the feuding nWo factions into one. The return, however, was short lived and by the mid-point of 1999 the nWo reunion was over. Meanwhile, backstage, Nash wrote some of the later angles for WCW. In his 2006 autobiography, Controversy Creates Cash, former WCW President Eric Bischoff criticized Nash's work ethic, dubbing him "Big Lazy" (a reference to Nash's nickname, "Big Sexy"). The name had previously been coined by The Honky Tonk Man on several radio interviews. In May 1999, Nash won the WCW World Championship for the second time by defeating Diamond Dallas Page at Slamboree. He then appeared on The Tonight Show and put up a $250,000 challenge to Bret Hart for its May 24 program. Bret's brother, Owen, died in a wrestling stunt, however, just as Bret was flying to Los Angeles; this immediately canceled their match and feud. Nash then entered a feud with the returning Randy Savage, who was turned heel and was later joined by a returning Sid Vicious at The Great American Bash in June. This rivalry culminated in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach in July 1999 which pitted Nash and Sting against Savage and Sid. A stipulation was added that whoever got the pin in the match would become WCW World Champion. Nash was pinned by Savage and lost his championship, but would get his revenge the next night on Nitro in a title match between Savage and a returning Hulk Hogan, and in a similar situation to Savage's first title defense from the previous year, he used a Jackknife Powerbomb on Savage, preserving the victory for Hogan. The following week, however, Nash attacked Hogan and turned heel during a match pitting Hogan against Vicious. Nash, Sid, and Rick Steiner then feuded with Hogan, Sting, and a returning Goldberg until Road Wild, where Hogan defeated Nash in a "retirement" match. On October 4, 1999, Nash returned to WCW along with Scott Hall, which was later revealed to be new version of the nWo involving Nash, Hall, Bret Hart, and Jeff Jarrett. This would not last long either due to the injury of Hart, the group's leader, and Nash spent most of 2000 feuding with the likes of Terry Funk, Mike Awesome, Scott Steiner, and Booker T. Nash won the WCW Championship again from Booker T on August 28, 2000 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He eventually lost it back to Booker T later on at Fall Brawl. He even had a stint as WCW Commissioner, and he served as a coach/mentor to the Natural Born Thrillers, who would eventually turn on Nash. Nash aligned himself with Dallas Page, forming a team called The Insiders. They feuded with the Perfect Event (Shawn Stasiak and Chuck Palumbo) and won the WCW World Tag Team Championship at Mayhem on November 26, 2000. Shortly after, they were stripped of the title by Commissioner Mike Sanders in mid-December. Weeks later, they won the title back at Starrcade. In 2001 (WCW's final months), the Insiders continued their feud with the Natural Born Thrillers. Nash lost another "retirement" match to Scott Steiner at SuperBrawl, but it would not be long before WCW announced the sale of the company to the World Wrestling Federation. As he had a guaranteed contract with AOL-Time Warner, Nash chose to wait out the remainder of his contract, which expired on December 31, 2001. Following the expiration of his AOL-Time Warner contract, Nash, along with Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan, were rehired by the WWF. Their rehiring was announced several weeks before their debut, with Vince McMahon claiming to have hired the nWo in order to destroy the WWF. Billed as the original nWo, Nash, Hall, and Hogan returned to the WWF at No Way Out on February 17, 2002. In the course of the evening, the nWo delivered an interview in which they claimed to have reformed, gave a six pack of beer to Stone Cold Steve Austin (which he refused), and traded insults with The Rock. They interfered in the main event of the evening, helping Chris Jericho retain his Undisputed Championship against Austin. At WrestleMania X8, Nash attempted to help Hall defeat Austin but failed as Austin won the match. In March, Nash suffered a biceps injury that put him out of action for several weeks and almost immediately upon returning, suffered a quadriceps tear in a tag match on the July 8 episode of Raw. McMahon disbanded the nWo following those events. Nash returned as a face on the April 7, 2003 episode of Raw, much to the delight of Shawn Michaels and Triple H, who were feuding with each other. As part of the storyline, Nash was to choose to remain friends with either Michaels or Triple H. After Nash would not make the decision, Triple H made the decision for him and turned on him with a low blow. This led to Nash feuding with Triple H for the next few months which would eventually lead to a Hell in a Cell match at Bad Blood with Mick Foley as the special guest referee. In August 2003, Nash feuded with Chris Jericho and was forced to cut his hair after losing a hair vs. hair match against Jericho. His last WWE wrestling match was at SummerSlam in an Elimination Chamber match against Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Goldberg, Jericho, and Randy Orton. He was the first one eliminated after being pinned by Jericho following Sweet Chin Music from Michaels. After he was pinned, he Jackknife Powerbombed everyone in the chamber. Nash then stepped away from in-ring action and underwent neck surgery. WWE chose not to renew Nash's contract as it expired on January 3, 2004.